Xbox boss says console shortage will last into next year as PS5 stock issues continue

(Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Xbox UK)

The global console shortage is likely to continue into next year, Microsoft’s Xbox chief has warned.

And the issues are much more widespread than the global chip shortage that has often been blamed for them, Phil Spencer said.

The problems are likely to run into 2022, and could potentially continue after that, he said.

Mr Spencer made the comments in an interview with The Wrap, during which he discussed the problems that have meant both the Xbox Series X and its rival the PlayStation 5 have been somewhere between difficult and impossible to buy.

“I think it’s probably too isolated to talk about it as just a chip problem,” says Spencer. “When I think about, what does it mean to get the parts necessary to build a console today, and then get it to the markets where the demand is, there are multiple kind of pinch points in that process.

“And I think regretfully it’s going to be with us for months and months, definitely through the end of this calendar year and into the next calendar year.”

Many of the problems have been blamed on a global semiconductor shortage, which appears to have been at least exacerbated by the pandemic but also resulted from a range of other issues.

It has affected everything from cars to wearables, given the wide use of computer chips in many consumer products.

Other companies – including manufacturer TSMC – have already indicated that the problems are likely to run well into 2022, as the supply chain struggles to create enough chips and hardware.